Tensions grow in South China Sea

BEIJING - China and two of its neighbors, Vietnam and India, were locked in a new dispute on Tuesday over energy exploration in the South China Sea, a signal that Beijing plans to continue its hard line in the increasingly contentious waterway.

Vietnam accused a Chinese fishing boat of cutting a seismic cable attached to one of its vessels exploring for oil and gas near the Gulf of Tonkin, an act apparently designed to inhibit Vietnam from pursuing energy deposits.

In retaliation, Vietnam said Tuesday that it would launch new patrols, which would include marine police, to guard against increasing encroachment by Chinese fishing boats in the South China Sea.

India, which operates several joint ventures with Vietnam's national energy company, Petro Vietnam, said it would consider sending navy vessels to protect its interests in the South China Sea.

The latest episode follows an announcement by Hainan province in southern China last week that Chinese vessels would board and search ships in contested areas of the waterway, which include vital shipping lanes through which more than a third of global trade moves.

The new tensions among China, Vietnam and India illustrate in stark terms the competition in the South China Sea for what are believed to be sizable deposits of oil and gas.

Some energy experts in China see the sea as an important energy frontier close to home that could make China less dependent on huge oil imports from the Middle East.

Mexico City officials said Sunday they are pursuing all lines of investigation into the killing of a photojournalist whose body was found in the capital, where he had fled because of harassment in the state he covered.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper triggered an election campaign Sunday and set the vote for Oct. 19, when Harper and his Conservative party hope to earn a fourth term after almost a decade in power.

Now there are two: Zimbabwe accused a Pennsylvania doctor on Sunday of illegally killing a lion in April, adding to the outcry over a Minnesota dentist the African government wants to extradite for killing a well-known lion named Cecil in early July.